Wave model

Andrew Hsiu

January 2019 working draft

Waves of expansions

Map: https://drive.google.com/open?id=19mUt6CE7K7z4T9hzQ_7XAQKjrWyapb-G&usp=sharing

The Sino-Tibetan expansion can be (better) thought of as multiple waves of concentric circles expanding out from the Upper Yangtze region. Trees only tell part of the story; the wave model (and my newly proposed "pyramid model" depicting linguistic strata) tells another side of the story. Traditionally, linguists prefer neatly branching trees, but as Matisoff (2013) noted in his paper on Asakian classification, this is a very crude method that cannot fully explain Sino-Tibetan diversification processes. Archaeobotanical studies have also noted this pattern of multiple waves of movements from the Upper Yangtze region into Northeast India.

Concentric waves (Wikimedia Commons):

For Eastern Sino-Tibetan languages:

Wave 1 (early Neolithic; most basal / aberrant branches, all with non-ST substrata):

• 1. Koro

  2. Idu-Taraon

  3. Hrusish

  4. Kho-Bwa

  5. Tujia

  6. Sinitic (earliest layer)

Wave 2 (Middle to Late Neolithic expansions from the Upper Yangtze):

• 1. Nungish

  2. Karenic

  3. Gong (expansion southward starting from Yunnan)

  4. pre-Kathu

  5. Sinitic (secondary layer)

  6. "Donor Jiamao"

  7. "Donor Kra"

  8. "Donor Hmong-Mien"

Wave 3 (pre-Burmo-Qiangic expansions from the Sichuan Basin and northern Yunnan; the branches below are the more divergent branches of the Burmo-Qiangic convergence area, which is due to their having split off before the Burmo-Qiangic linkage started to exist):

• 1. SE Chamdo

  2. rGyalrong

  3. Horpa-Lavrung

  4. pre-Ersuic

Wave 4 (Bronze Age; Burmo-Qiangic convergence and expansion):

• 1. (Core) Qiangic

  2. Lolo-Burmese

  3. Naic

For Western Sino-Tibetan languages:

Wave 1 (most basal / aberrant Western ST branches; both before and during the spread of Austroasiatic into NE India ~3,500-4,000 years ago; links are ultimately with pre-Burmo-Qiangic branches [rGyalrong, Horpa-Lavrung, Ersuic, Lolo-Burmese, etc.] and Nungish in the east, similar to how Malayo-Polynesian languages have links with multiple Formosan branches):

• 1. Miju, Meyor

  2. Tani

  3. Lepcha

  4. Mru-Hkongso (prior to Central ST convergence)

  5. pre-Sal (prior to Central ST convergence)

  6. Gongduk

  7. Ole

Wave 2 (subsequent spread of Western ST branches into Nepal, etc.):

• 1. West Himalayish

  2. Raji-Raute

  3. Greater Magaric (Kham, Magar, Chepang; perhaps also Dura)

  4. Newaric

  5. Kiranti

  6. Lhokpu-Dhimalish

  7. pre-Tshangla

Wave 3 (secondary expansions during the Late Bronze Age; a Central ST convergence area starts to appear):

• 1. Kuki-Chin-Naga

  2. Pyu

  3. Sal

  4. etc.

Wave 4 (Iron Age expansion of Bodish, which started out as Western ST but then mixed with various non-Bodish languages):

• 1. Basum

  2. Tamangic

  3. Kaike

  4. East Bodish

  5. Tibetic

The following branches contain non-Sino-Tibetan substrata along with superstrata of early Sino-Tibetan splits. A similar parallel would be the shift of Negritos in the Philippines from non-Austronesian languages to early forms of Malayo-Polynesian (see Reid 2013).

• • Lepcha: AA > early WST

  • Mru-Hkongso: AA > early CST

  • Koro: Siangic > early ST

  • Idu-Taraon: Siangic > early ST

  • Hrusish: pre-Hrusish > early ST

  • Kho-Bwa: pre-Kho-Bwa > early ST

  • Tujia: pre-Tujia > early ST

  • Sinitic: pre-Sinitic > early ST

Kuki-Chin-Naga, Sal, Tani, Karenic, and Lolo-Burmese also have many Austroasiatic loanwords, but not enough influence to actually have Austroasiatic substrata.

Maps

1st wave of ST expansion (early EST)

2nd waves of ST expansion (WST, later EST)

3rd waves of ST expansion (Western / later WST, pre-Burmo-Qiangic)

4th waves of ST expansion (CST, Burmo-Qiangic)

5tth wave of ST expansion (Bodish)